Cashman: “As far as I’m concerned, all the coaches are safe”

Via Jon Heyman: Brian Cashman said that none of the Yankees’ coaches are in danger of losing their job following the team’s early ALCS exit. “As far as I’m concerned, all the coaches are safe,” said the GM. “There’s no blame game taking place here.”

Despite what Cashman said, there could still be some turnover with the coaching staff. Bench coach Tony Penainterviewed for the Red Sox’s managerial job last week, and George King and Dan Martin report that third base coach Robbie Thomson is expected to draw some interest from the Blue Jays. Martin says Cashman also praised hitting coach Kevin Long despite the team’s offensively inept postseason showing.

Why? Just because the offense stunk it up for 2 weeks doesn’t mean that we need to blow everything up, just supplement what we have and keep the coaching staff in place, people forget that we won 98 games in the best division in the MLB.

hmelawyer

The offense did not just stink it up for two weeks. A number of players showed long term slumps for which no adjustments were made (Martin, Granderson, Texeira), the team had a season long problem with situational hitting, and a number of players just plain regressed. KLong won some points when he fixed Granderson about two years ago now, but all that progress was lost this year. Let’s all remember that his changes with Jeter last year made things worse and it wasn’t until Jeter was reunited with Denbo that any progress was made. I think that there are plenty of long term reasons to let KLong go. The two weeks was horrible and could be justification on its own, but there’s a whole lot more to this situation that adds justification.

vicki

good lord, this isn’t a little league team. grown millionaires will let the hitting coach know when they want help. nothing he can do until then.

Elton Cod

Yes! I am tired of all the statheads who are saying “This was just an aberration, it was random, bad luck that the slump came when it did, but OPS+ [or whatever fancy stat they’re using these days] shows that everything will be ABSOLUTELY FINE in 2013”.

Anybody who actually WATCHED the team consistently after the ASB could not seriously think that. For the most part, they played and looked terrible on offense. Cano had a long slump in which he did the same things wrong again and again, only broken, really, by his torrent at the end of the season. Granderson was pretty terrible too, doing the same things wrong again and again. The offense is not smart about pitch selection, can’t hit offspeed or breaking pitches, swings for the fences when it is ABSOLUTELY inappropriate (see Russ in that extra-innings situation where ALL he needed was a base hit to WIN the game and he struck out on the most ridiculous overswings I have ever seen).

I like your point about Jeter too, spot-on.

Kevin Long needs to go if this team wants a chance to win next year. I hope when Cashman says “As far as I am concerned” that’s all it means, and the Steinbrenners will have the smarts to go over his head and gives this coaching staff the reworking it needs.

Mickey Scheister AKA The BadaBling King

I agree, they really need to make an example out of someone. Long seems logical; the offense was offensive.

Robinson Tilapia

Why would making an example out of someone be necessary under any circumstance? When does that ever work?

Elton Cod

The crucifixion and the Kennedy brothers

Robinson Tilapia

I laughed.

CP

The Yankees averaged 5.6 runs per game in September over the course of 30 games. Then they averaged 2.4 runs per gamein the playoffs in 9 games. Based on that, you feel the 9 games better represent the talent level of the team than the 30 prior games?

To me, it seems clear that everyone got on a roll in Seotember, and then instead of carrying over into the playoffs, all of the players cooled off. It’s baseball. This shit happens all the time in the regular season and everyone knows its just a rough patch. When it happens in the playoffs, everyone gets crazy and thinks the team is going to suck for the next 100 years.

Elton Cod

You obviously did not watch this team in July or August. Or September, for that matter.

CP

I did watch the team. The teami watched scored the second most runs in the AL over e course of the season and averaged 5.6 runs per game in Seotember – their best offensive month of the season. There was noting in their September performance that would have suggested the would play so poorly in the playoffs.

Fin

The Yankees played alot of Blue Jays and Sox in September, just sayin.

vicki

you’re a light in the darkness; thank you.

RetroRob

Like many Yankee fans spoiled by watching nothing but non-stop winning teams for twenty years, you have no ability to actual evaluate teams or players.

Jeff

Long needs to go! Every Yankee hitter has declined since he has been there. The only reason Jeter improved was because he went to Denbo. Seeeee gas Long….at least I hope

Jamey

I think it’s knee-jerk to blame Long for everything, much in the same the way it seemed the media felt the offensive struggles were A-Rod’s fault even after he’d been benched. The argument that a few fans may have against Long is simply that the team approach seemed really focused on driving the ball even in situations where a single would’ve scored crucial runs. Situational hitting was too often, especially in the playoffs, ignored which accounted for a lot of the RISPfail. In the playoffs Martin’s at-bat with runners on (forgive me for forgetting the inning or exact game because all that suck just ran together, but I believe extra innings after the Ibanez homer to tie in Game 2) was a pretty good example. It was like he was convinced the ONLY way he could win the game was a HR.

Now obviously a professional hitter shouldn’t need a coach to tell him what the situation calls for, and you’d HOPE that they’d be aware that the homerun isn’t the only way runs can score. It isn’t unfair though to wonder if a team mantra & focus towards driving the ball for power left Girardi managing a team of hackers come October.

Takashi Ota

I have not realized this. Because I just looked at Ichiro
and did not know much about the first half of the regular season of the Yankees.

jim p

Long taught home-run hitting effectively. I think he could just as easily come up with drills to not try to pull outside pitches, and settle for singles and doubles instead. (even sac flies!)

http://www,riveraveblues.com GT Yankee

So agreed. Part of the reason Tex’s average was higher before he signed with the Yankees was because teams did not employ “the shift”. To me planning to simply succeed in spite of it is just foolish. If you don’t want the occasional bunt offering to keep teams honest than the players need to go the other way for singles and doubles. Same goes for Cano now. I know it’s easier said than done, but to just go to it every once in a while will do wonders to keeping defensive players home. I am not saying a steady diet of it because as we saw, that did not go well for Tex. Just every so often. If Papi does it, so can he.

JLC 776

Kevin Long was praised?

I’ll admit, I know very little about the full scope of the hitting coach’s job and how much he truly impacts the on-field product, but the RISPFail(tm) thing this year really did seem to be more than just random bad luck. Some mention of it during this offseason would be nice. It doesn’t have to be via a firing, but at least give us something along the lines of, “Yeah, that season-long inability to really make things happen in the clutch – the thing that became 100X worse in the post-season – this is how we’re approaching that next year.”

vicki

over a large number of plate appearances a batter will hit essentially the same in high leverage situations that he will in low. clutch hitting is a myth.

vicki

edit! essentially the same as his average, not what he hits in low leverage.

JLC 776

The Yankees were 2nd in Runs Scored this year but something like 18th in bringing home runners in scoring position. That’s a full season, not a small sample size.

At some point you have to say that their approach with men on was not working.

Need Pitching & Hitting

It did improve as the season went on though. They were hitting .217 w/RISP in late June, and then hit .286 the rest of the season w/RISP.

I do agree that their situational hitting in general was subpar and needs work though.

vicki

are you saying total baserunners? or percentage?

yankees were second in the majors in obp; they had more to strand.

and if you have the data, exactly what is the margin between best and 18th, and 30th for that matter?

the team ba with risp for the first few months of the season were a quirk of probability; there was a significant regression the second half of the year.

vicki

*if you have the data handy.

JLC 776

I’m just going off of memory from a Daily News or Post article from sometime in late September… I’ll have to try to sort stuff out in Baseball Reference – to your point, just throwing out a ranking without context doesn’t really prove anything.

http://www,riveraveblues.com GT Yankee

Respectfully disagree. As a person who played ball at a much much lower level I can attest to the fact that some players bear down in high pressure at bats. So much so that they lose their looseness and rhythm. For years I was a crappy clutch hitter. When I finally internalized that a hit in a “big” at bat wasn’t going to be the cure to cancer, I was able to relax and treat it like any other at bat. Sometimes this can take a long time and others never get it. People aren’t robots, they want to produce in the big spots and sometimes they are their own worst enemy. Human emotion is what the stat nerds don’t always take into consideration. No, an at bat in a game you’re winning 5-1 in May isn’t the same as an at bat when tied 2-2 in the bottom of the 9th in October.

RetroRob

There is no comparison between people who play baseball at all the lower levels, from the little leagues to even the low minor leagues, and those who play it on the major league level.

If you think you understand and comprehend what it’s like to be a MLB player, let alone someone like A-Rod or a Cano, then you are delusional. You are not the same species.

http://www,riveraveblues.com GT Yankee

Never claimed to “understand”. But if you think that being an MLBer means you have ice water in your veins than you’re a damned fool! Ask Zach Greinke about it! My point is that any human being who has tens of thousands of people booing at them is going to feel it to some degree. Some are cool about it and some are not. Yes they are the elite of the elite….but they are still people! Remember Joey Votto’s disorder? How about Khalil Greene? Might want to wiki him. Anxiety effectively ended his career. So Grand Poobah you proclaim that all MLBers are the same and I’m delusional to say they’re not? You have a far bigger problem with ignorance than I do with delusions.

SoonerYankee

With all the irresponsible rumors out there I want dibs on what the Red Saux will trade us for Tony Pena… I would settle for Lester but maybe we could go A-Rod & Grandy for Middlebrooks and Ellsbury…

(Sarcasm)

http://www,riveraveblues.com GT Yankee

LOL-Would be cool, but they’re bent on Farrell. Mike here seems to think they can get Bard for him (in today’s chat). I’d be pretty pleased if the Jays got that much.

emac2

Sorry guys. The “a two week slump can happen to anyone” argument is for losers.

It’s the players the hitting coach the advance scouts or the man who put the team together. I can’t say for sure who it is but “whoops, what are the odds of that” is a bit weak. I don’t need scapegoats in the press but some changes are called for because this wasn’t an isolated incident.

CP

It was an isolated incident. They were the second highest scoring team in the AL in the regular season. Struggling to score in 9 games at the end of the season is pretty much the definition of an isolated incident.

DC

Wow, you should work in baseball.

Mickey Scheister AKA The BadaBling King

I don’t think they should over react but react they should. Shoot a hostage. That was a brutal stretch of games. Thus far the media and the NYY have shot A-Rod, unrightfully so and it should’ve been someone NOT under contract for five plus years at the time. Swisher perhaps? Cano maybe? Chavez who didn’t look any better? Maybe bench the binder. I feel a new manager would greatly benefit this team, who? I have no idea, but if I shit the bed in my busiest months at work, I get written up and the threat of termination or demotion. Torre got the axe for less (or didn’t get an ext same thing IMO) and the luster from 2009 is wearing off quickly. Who takes ownership? At my job if a couple of people are under performing, it’s on them but if more than 50 percent of my team is under achieving then its on the manager. If we credit Joe for the good, he gets the bad as well. Sorry for the long rant but that nine game stretch was some of the worst offensive baseball, ever.

Elton Cod

When Cashman says “As far as I’m concerned…” I hope that means that HE won’t do the firings but somebody will. Because this team needs it.

Kevin Long absolutely needs to go, this offense was abysmal when it mattered, Granderson would have still struck out in tee-ball with the bases loaded because he was trying to pull a 500 ft homerun and got messed up because it was on a tee, not a fastball.

I am not a fan of Girardi either, I think he overmanages, sometimes it’s the “binder”, sometimes it’s the “gut”, both of them are stupid. He made some really baffling bullpen moves in the playoffs, his Derek Lowe love in Game 1 pretty much lost us the game. Our real pen was fresh that night since CC had given them the night before off, but instead of using Joba/D-Rob/Soriano he uses Lowe and Logan (AGAINST A RIGHTY!). Shocking results, if by “shocking” you mean absolutely expected. His bullpen management cost us at least 5 games down the stretch too, he always gave up on games we were down by more than one run. If not for those losses maybe we would have had a more comfortable lead in the last few games; maybe Jeter could have sat and rested that bum ankle; maybe then he wouldn’t have fractured his ankle like he did.

CP

sometimes it’s the “binder”, sometimes it’s the “gut”, both of them are stupid

How would he manage instead? You either go by stats or my your feel for the game.

I guess he could just pull random names out of a hat. Or maybe set up a dart board for pitching changes…

Elton Cod

When he goes by stats, he often goes by stupidly small sample sizes – oh, he’s 1 for 3 against this guy, that’s like .333, let’s pinch hit him! Or his blind adherence to L/L R/R matchups, even when there are actually reverse platoon splits operating (e.g. Hughes).

RetroRob

Post here reguarly and you’ll be taken seriously. Right now you’re just a troll.

JonS

Robbie Thompson is the smoothest 3rd base coach in the league. No one sends in signs like him.

vicki

come on, man. larry bowa??

Robinson Tilapia

I wonder how many folks drew a blank at that name.

vicki

youngstas need to study they history.

Preston

Granderson’s option is getting picked up, Cashman has no interest in trading A-Rod, Hal has said that Cash and Joe are safe and that they make coaching decisions. Now Cash is saying no coaches will be fired. We will make a qualifying offer to Swisher and bring him back if the price and years are right. This is not King George’s team anymore, they will not panic and make knee jerk reactionary decisions. So everybody can post all of their crazed ideas about who should be cut, traded and fired. But it isn’t happening.

Rich in NJ

It’s all spin at this point.

RetroRob

+1.

The most sane comment is currently here at the bottom of the thread.

Fin

Not much you can really do with a team thats at $~210m and wants to get down to $189m and has arod on the books for $30m. Stiens will have to sell this team when they get that rebate check becasue there will be no one at Yankee stadium when they arent making the playoffs.

OldYanksFan

A few thoughts:
We can look at player performances, and make a correlation = causation judgement, but I don’t think any fan can accurately assess a coach’s performance. We know the Yanks want to win, and that Girardi/the FO are in a far, far, farfarfarfar greater position to evaluate their coaches than we are. If they believe KLong is doing a good job, I will take their word for it.

While the ‘shift’ has been around for a while, going back to 10 years ago, there was really very little (non-shift) defensive positioning. Now, with spray charts readily available, you see much ‘smarter’ defenses then in years past. It’s quite possible that BAs league wide may be lower now, simply because defenses are now intelligently repositioning fielders on a batter to batter basis. As I watched games, I saw many shots off the bat were up the middle, and I thought to myself ‘now there’s a hit’, only to see, low and behold, the SS was 10′ from 2nd base and made the easy out. And obviously, strict pull hitters are more prone to be negatively affected by this.

I don’t think KLong is responsible for the ‘hitting philosophy’ the Yankees employ. I personally have issues with the approach many Yankee batters take with 2 strikes or RISP. However, I (and we) don’t know this falls on KLong, the players, or an organizational approach.

Fin

As long as they keep making the postseason it doesnt really matter. However, these issues didnt start in the playoffs, they were there all year long. It really doesnt matter whos fault it is. The question is how can they fix it? This wasnt the first season of the Yankees not adjusting.

The Yankees have had the same payroll for a very long time. As time marches on, other teams are catching up to that payroll, and at least one seems poised to pass it. Now the Yankees are going to cut ~$30m from that payroll, while paying Arod another $30m. So, even if they had a desire to change, do they have the resources? If they are going to get to $189 they could change all the coaches they want, but the players will stay the same, or get worse.

As much as most people hate Swisher, when he walks next year, the odds are very strong his replacement is a lesser player. When Granderson goes, the odds are who ever replaces him is a lesser player. They cant replace Martin, because there is no one available better than him, even if there were, could they afford him and Cano? Jeter will be playing SS at 39yrs old, and even a terrible fielder like Nunez, shows how bad Jeter is. They have $30m a year tied up in Arod at 3b, even if he bounces back to a $10m player, thats alot of payroll lost.

When your offense is in the state it is in and you cant afford to resign Granderson or Swisher and your minor leagues are in no hurry to add anything to the MLB roster as an everyday player, how to do you make any changes?

a realist

If we are not going to get any better than swish, martin, or grandy than I don’t think I want to watch this team anymore. No one’s better than those guys? This is the best we can do? Really?

We can’t worry about what the Dodgers do or the money that Anaheim spends. We need to worry about and focus on the teams in our division who are getting cheaper, younger, and better. Sticking to our guns, spending stupid money, and assembling another gang of power or nothing hitters isn’t going to help. The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

OldYanksFan

“This wasnt the first season of the Yankees not adjusting.”
I agree. The question is who’s calling the shots here? If it’s NOT KLong, then firing him achieves nothing.

“If they are going to get to $189 they could change all the coaches they want…”
The $189m is NOT a new philosophy, byt rather a ONE YEAR TACTIC, that will save the Yankess over $30m.
I would bet my house that the Yankees will reinvest ALL the savings back into the team the following year.

There is a chance the Yanks will miss the PS in 2014. At the same time, we may get to see some kids play, which could be great for our future.

The Yankees have planned/known about this $189m for years, and I’m SURE have run dozens of scenerios to help them decide how they will go forward.

However, ‘punting’ 2014 is a good strategy if it allows them to improve their chances in the following years. My guess is the 2015/2016 offseasons will be in the “CC, AJ and Teix” mode, meaning they will spend big money to retool. My guess is they are already targeting/following 2015/2016 FAs, and will be ready to come out strong in rebuilding the team.

Based on the luxury tax rules (50% Tax in 2014), the current farm system, the Cost of elite FAs (in $$ and years) and other financial realities of Baseball, the Yankees simply can NOT continue to make the PS every year with their current paradigm. And I think all of us see the writting on the wall. The Yankees are not stupid, nor do I beleive they are changing their commitment to Win. I believe they are making needed changes based on the current environment, and taking all things into account, in order to continue dominating in the future years.

Pete

Long is a good coach. He has alot of stats, and information to give players. That being said, if he filled the players head with too much statistical crap, when a more simple approach would have worked, he needs to go. This hitting and pitching guru stuff is way over rated.

a realist

If this is what Chashman has to say, maybe it’s time he left too.

Fin

There are what, 2 every day players in the major leagues right now that came through the Yankee system since Cano? Jackson and Montero? The only real talent, as far as every day players go, are in low A ball for the Yankees. Its going to be interesting watching the Yankees cut payroll to 2004 levels, while paying Arod, and getting nothing from their minor leagues.

a realist

The fact that we have only produced 2 everyday players since Cano is pretty much an indictment on the entire organization. I think you’re are using this information to say we need to keep spending — to me it’s time to roll over all the shitty decision makers who can’t produce MLB-ready talent.

The Big City of Dreams

to me it’s time to roll over all the shitty decision makers who can’t produce MLB-ready talent.
———————————————–

Don’t worry it’s all just bad luck. They picked the right guys things just didn’t work out lol.

RossA

They have an excellent manager and excellent coaches.

I’m in the “this shit happens” camp. If a team _tried_ to hit this poorly during a regular season stretch of games, they probably couldn’t pull it off.

Some things are random, we just don’t know why they happen.

The only thing I sorta think is relevant in a very general sense is the fact that the Yankees are a very “veteran” team.

Two things here – age, and experience.

When you get close to and past age 30, the body just doesn’t work like it did before, it doesn’t bounce back as fast, it doesn’t last as long. I don’t think this explains all or even most of their playoff hitting woes, but I think we underestimate the physical grind of being a professional athlete, even a milder game like baseball. The Yankees, being an older team, do have less physical reserve than younger teams.

But maybe even more significant than physical age is mental or psychological age. John Lennon once said, when talking about all the great songs he wrote with Paul McCartney in the early 1960s (in contrast to markedly lower song output later), “you can only be that hungry once.”

Basically all of the stars and almost all of the regular players have the 2009 WS ring at least….AND all of them have had alot of success in general winning….AND all of them are very well paid. The motivation, the hunger, just isn’t there to the degree that it is with a player who has never won.

Motivation has a huge effect on how you perform. The fact that ARod was hitting on women in the stands in a playoff game speaks volumes about his motivation.

These are things we just have to accept being Yankee fans.

Unless, of course, the organization makes the gutsy move to rebuild.

The only way to get a core of good YOUNG players is to accept a few mediocre seasons so you can draft better. And maybe let a high value free agent like Cano go so you can get the draft pick compensation.

I wish they would rebuild.

Andy Pettitte’s Fibula

I’m not saying Long should be fired but I find it funny that last year when he “transformed” Granderson to be able to,hit lefties, he was regarded as a hitting guru around here.

Now this year, the Yankees offense was pretty lousy all year long, totally dependent on homers, miserable with RISP, unable to adjust their approach in the playoffs not to mention the fact that Granderson totally regressed and his 2011 looks pretty much like a career year rather than a transformation and the general consensus is its not Long’s fault.

Gonzalo Hiram

This really pisses me off
Kevin long should be already fired

I don’t understand the people defending his case. With the players we have there is nothing beneficial from him. He is so bad for these group.

Ken

+1. Long sucks. He’s the main cuprit here.

luxlamf

Wow the entire organization is nw run by this real life George Costanza, Prepare for more embarrassing seasons to come

FreeAgentID

Good choice Brian!

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